Device for the alignment of a sheet

ABSTRACT

A control device for alignment marks controlling the feed of sheets in a sheet processing machine comprises means for producing movement of the marks in two parts which are independently controllable. A drive shaft supports two control cams, one of which oscillates a shaft lying parallel to the sheets on a feed table, the shaft mounting a lever which carries a second shaft oscillatable by the second cam. The marks are attached to the second shaft.

United States Patent 72] lnventor Werner Koch Gotzenhain Uber Langen, Germany [21] 7 Appl. No. 752,330 [22] Filed Aug. 13, 1968 [45] Patented Feb. 9, 1971 [73] Assignee Roland Ofi'setmaschinenfabrick Faber &

Schleicher A.G. Offenbach am Main, Germany a corporation of Germany [32] Priority Aug. 16, 1967 [3 3 1 Germany [31 P 16 11 3670 [54] DEVICE FOR THE ALIGNMENT OF A SHEET 12 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 271/60, 27 l 5 3 [51] Int. Cl B65h 9/06 [50] Field ofSearch.... 198/221, 218; 27l/46, 50. 53. 56, 58, 60, 48

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS l 726.4l8 8/1929 Aldrich 198/221 Primary ExaminerEvon C. Blunk Assistant Examiner-Alfred N. Goodman Attorney-Hane and Baxley ABSTRACT: A control device for alignment marks controlling the feed of sheets in a sheet processing machine comprises means for producing movement of the marks in two parts which are independently controllable. A drive shaft supports two control cams, one of which oscillates a shaft lying parallel to the sheets on a feed table, the shaft mounting a lever which carries a second shaft oscillatable by the second cam. The marks are attached to the second shaft.

DEVICE FOR THE ALIGNMENT OF A SHEET The invention relates to a device for the alignment of a sheet on the feed table of a sheet-processing machine, especially a printing machine, in which the sheets are retarded and finally aligned by front marks which are guided in a closed path, and in which the sheet alignment position of the front marks is fixed by a stop.

It is the purpose of such devices to reduce the speed of the sheets, which is very high in modern machines, on the feed table before the sheets run against the stationary front marks for the purpose of final alignment, and thus to avoid damage and rebounding of the sheets on excessively hard impact against the front marks.

The arrangement of interceptor hooks to retard the sheets additionally to stationary front marks which effect the final sheet orientation is generally known. Both these interceptor hooks, which are moved a distance in the running direction of the sheet during the sheet retardation, and the stationary front marks must however be pivoted, hinged or drawn out of the sheet path after the alignment of the sheets, so that the aligned sheets can be introduced into the machine without interference.

A sheet alignment device with sheet retardation already simplified constructionally has become known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,143,049. In this device front marks are provided by which both the retardation and the final alignment of the sheets are effected. The front marks are guided on a circular path tangential to the path of the sheets, by pivoting about an axis parallel with the plane of the sheets, and are briefly halted in the sheet alignment position, which is fixed by a stop, and then moved further in the circular path which gradually leads out of the path of the sheets. This arrangement has essentially the disadvantage that the front marks on the one hand during the sheet retardation have a movement component perpendicular to the path of the sheets, on the other hand cannot be moved out of the sheet path sufficiently rapidly after the alignment of the sheets, while an improvement in one direction by variation of the radius of curvature of the circular path directly results in a deterioration in the other direction.

According to the invention the disadvantages of the above described device are removed by the fact that the closed path of the front marks is produced by superimposition of two movements which can be imparted to the front marks independently of one another, to each of which movements a stop is allocated for the sheet alignment position of the front marks. Thus it is possible for the designer to determine the path to be travelled by the front marks according to requirements by appropriate time control of the individual movements within one region. This region is defined by four limit paths, namely the paths which the front marks would travel according to the one movement which can be imparted to them in each case, while the other movement in each case is halted at one of the end points. By the allocation of a stop to each of the two movements which are independently communicatable to the front marks a clear fixing of the front marks in the sheet alignment position is ensured.

Preferably the stops allocated to the two movements are arranged on fixed parts of a chassis of the device. This measure avoids the possibility of any bearing play of movably mounted parts having an effect upon the position of the stops.

More expediently the stops, or one of them, is or are adjustable. Thus corrections or precise settings of the sheet alignment position of the front marks can be carried out easily and quickly.

Preferably also the two movements which can be imparted mutually independently to the front marks are pivoting movements about axes approximately parallel with the plane of the sheets, and the closed path of the front marks comprises parts approximately parallel and approximately perpendicular to the sheet path. The pivoting movement of one part can be brought about more easily than is possible with straight guides. independently of the course of these individual pivoting movements, however, the course of the resultant path of the front marks is ideally adapted to requirements; the front marks move firstly approximately parallel with the sheet path and in the direction of travel of the sheets for the purpose of retarding the sheets, without exerting a force perpendicularly of the sheet plane upon the sheet resting on the front marks, and thus damaging the sheet front edge, and after the sheet orientation they move by the quickest way out of the sheet path, namely in a direction approximately perpendicular to the sheet plane. Furthermore, the front marks can be conducted outside the sheet path back contrarily of the sheet travel direction and into the sheet path again, without interfering with the departing sheet.

In the case of cam control of the two movements communicatable mutually independently to the front marks the transmission of the movement from the control cams to the front marks takes place through spring elements. Where a resilient transmission is used the front marks can be guided at the moment of the maximum lift of the control cams against the stops for the sheet alignment position, a slight excess stroke being taken up by a spring element. At the same time in this case the possibility is presented of blocking the pivoting movement of the front marks in their sheet alignment position by means of a pawl. This pawl catch would however not be possible if the front marks were to rest on the stops for the sheet alignment position at the moment of the minimum cam disc lift. The blocking of both movements can be affected by one single pawl.

In an embodiment of the invention the pivot axis which generates the part of the front mark path approximately perpendicular to the sheet path is mounted in adjustable eccentric bushes. By rotation of the eccentric bushes the front marks can be moved forward and back as a whole, seen in the direction of travel of the sheets, In this case the front marks, arranged for example beneath the sheet path, can be adjusted parallel by rotation of the bushes through equally large angles of rotation or be set obliquely by rotation of only one bush or by rotation of the bushes by different angles of rotation in each case.

According to the invention the lever which transmits the movement from the control cam to the axis is separately mounted. Thus the position of the lever remains unchanged in relation to the control cam and the control times are not influenced by displacement of the axis which is to be pivoted.

An example of embodiment of the invention is represented diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a lateral elevation ofa device according to the invention partially in section;

FIG. 2 shows a partial plan view of the device without feed table; and

FIG. 3 shows a detail along the line lll-lll in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the sheets 1 are conveyed on to the feed table 3 by means (not shown)in the direction of the arrow A and come into contact with front marks 4 which are swung back (position in broken lines) and are retarded by them during the forward swing of the front marks 4 and finally halted and completely oriented in the end position of the front marks 4 (position in solid lines). in the drawing only one front mark 4 is illustrated for reasons of simplification. However, shafts are illustrated as broken away in F IG. 2 to indicate that the arrangement shown is duplicated at the other ends of the shafts. During this rest position the sheets 1 are expediently aligned by side marks in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the sheets and then grasped by grippers of the like and conveyed into the printing machine (not shown). One or more cover marks 6 pinned on a shaft 5 prevents or prevent over-shooting of the sheets 1 beyond the front marks 4. The cover marks 6 are conducted in sequence out of the sheet path by pivoting of the shaft 5 after alignment of the sheets I. The front marks 4 are made in the form of forks according to FIG. 3, and their tines 7 travel in slots 9 provided in the feed table 3. Similarly the tines 7 of the front marks 4 extend into depressions 11 provided in the cover marks 6.

The ends of a carrier arm 13 are formed as bearing points for pivotable shafts 16 and 17, the shaft 16 being firmly keyed to the carrier arm 13 and the shaft 17 being freely rotatable in the carrier arm 13. The fronts marks 4 and a stop lever 18 are firmly keyed to the shaft 17. Moreover a double-armed lever 19 is mounted on the shaft 17. One end of this lever 19 is formed as roller lever 21) with a roller 21 which is held in con tact with a control cam 22 rotating with the rotational speed of the machine and secured on the shaft 23 by the action of a spring 27 acting upon the other end 24 of the lever 19 and bearing upon a protuberance 26 provided on a sidewall of the device. The other end 24 of the lever 19 is operatively connected with the stop lever 18 by a spring-loaded rod 28 so that the pivoting movement communicated by the control cam 22 to the lever 19 according to the course of the cam is transmitted by way of the spring-loaded rod 28, stop lever 18 and shaft 17 to the front marks 4. The pivoting movement of the shaft 17 and thus the front marks 4 is limited in one direction (the anticlockwise direction) by an adjustable stop 30 secured on the carrier arm 13 and cooperating with the stop lever 18. The reaching of this stop position is ensured due to the fact that the cam-controlled lever 19 pivots further by a small angle of rotation and the relative movement occurring between the stop lever 18 and the lever 19 is taken up by the spring-loaded rod 28 connecting the two levers 18 and 19. Due to the described pivoting movement of the front marks 4 about the axis of the shaft 17 a movement of the front marks 4 substantially in and contrarily of the direction of travel of the sheets.

A movement of the front marks 4 substantially perpendicularly to the direction of travel of the sheets is effected by pivoting of the carrier arm 13 and thus of the shaft 17 and the front marks 4 about the axis of the shaft 16. The pivoting of the shaft 16 is initiated by a second control cam 31, which is secured on the shaft 23 and accordingly rotates in synchronism with the first control cam 22, and transmitted through a two-armed lever 32, a spring-loaded rod 33 and a further lever 34 to the shaft 16. The two-armed lever 32 is rotatably mounted on a journal 35 of a mounting bracket 36 secured on the sidewall 25 of the device. Its one arm is formed as roller lever 37 with a roller 38 and is operatively held in contact with the control cam 31 by a spring 39 acting on the roller lever 37. The spring-loaded rod 33 is secured on the other arm 40 of the lever 32, the other end of which rod as previously described cooperates with the lever 34 keyed on the shaft 16. The pivoting of the carrier arm 13 in the clockwise direction is limited by an adjustable stop 42 arranged on a crossmember 41 supporting the feed table 3, which stop cooperates with a protuberance 43 provided on the carrier arm 13. The reaching of this stop position is ensured by the fact that the cam controlled lever 32 pivots further by a small angle of rotation. The relative rotation accordingly occurring between the two-armed lever 32 and the lever 34 keyed on the shaft 16 is taken up by the interposed springloaded rod 33. From the foregoing description it follows that any desired course of movement within the limits of thepivot range of shaft 16 and shaft 17 can be imparted to the front marks 4 according to the design of the control carns 22, 31.

A course of movement corresponding to the closed curve 44 in broken lines in FIG. 1, which comprises parts 45 approximately parallel and parts 46 approximately perpendicular to the sheet path, is sought. The drive of the control cams 22, 31 takes place through a gear wheel 29 secured on the shaft 23. The shaft 16 is mounted in an eccentrically drilled bush 48 which is rotatable by means of a spindle 47. A slight rotation of the bush 48 effects a shift of the axis of the shaft 16 approximately in or contrarily of the direction of movement of the sheets and can accordingly be used for the variation of the position of the front marks 4 as a whole or of the oblique position of the front marks 4 in the case of rotation about one bearing bush 48. Such a shift of the axis of the shaft 16 has no influence upon the pivoting of the shaft 16 in dependence upon the amount of rotation of the control cam 31, since the axis of rotation of the two-armed lever 32 is not also shifted. Accompanying shifting of the axis of rotation of the twoarmed lever 32 on the other hand would result in simultaneous shifting of the roller 38 on the periphery of the control cam disc and thus a displacement of the control times. lndividutil shifting of the front marks 4 in and contrarily of the sheet travel direction is possible by the construction of the front marks 4 from an upper part 49 and a lower part 50. The upper part 49 of the front mark 4 is displaceable in relation to the lower part 50 of the front mark 4 after the release of a screw connection 51. On the occurrence of sheets 1 resting obliquely on the front marks 4 or on the occurrence of double sheets it is desired that the front marks 4 should remain in the sheet path in order thus to prevent further conveying ofthe sheets 1. ln this case a lifting and pulling magnet 52 is actuated which acts upon one arm 53 of a two-armed lever 54 rotatably mounted on the shaft 23 and pivots the other arm, formed as pawl 55, of the lever 54 into the region of a protuberance 56 provided on the roller lever 20 and thus prevents the roller 21 of the roller lever 20 from following the contour of the continuingly rotating control cam 22 and thus prevents the roller 38 of the roller lever 37 from following the contour ofthe control cam 31, which also continues to rotate.

lclaim:

1. A device for aligning sheets moving on a feed table of a sheet processing machine by initially retarding and finally arresting each sheet in a position of alignment by engagement of its leading edge with a front mark, said device comprising in combination:

a feed table for successively moving thereupon the sheets to be aligned;

a front mark; and

means for moving said front mark along a closed path com posed of two independent movements and including sequentially a sheet-retarding part substantially parallel to and in the direction of the sheet movement for retarding of the sheet by engagement ofthe front mark with one side of the sheet, a sheet-arresting part substantially vertical to the sheet movement for moving the mark into the path of the sheet, a return part in opposition to the sheet movement, and a second substantially vertical part for moving the mark out of the path ofthe sheet, said moving means including:

first linkage means coupled with said front mark for moving the same substantially through said retarding part and said return part ofthe closed path,

second linkage means coupled with said front mark for moving the same substantially through said vertical parts of the closed path;

first actuating means coacting with said first linkage means to actuate the same for the purpose aforesaid;

second actuating means coacting with said second linkage means to actuate the same for the purpose aforesaid;

first stop means engaging the first linkage means for positively stopping the same at the end of the retarding movement of the front mark; and

second stop means engaging the second linkage means for positively stopping the same at the end of the vertical movement of the front mark into the path of the sheet to be aligned.

2. The device according to claim 1 wherein said first and second stop means are stationarily mounted.

3. The device according to claim 2 wherein the stationary position of at least one of said stop means is adjustable.

4. The device according to claim 1 wherein said front mark comprises two members joined adjustably relative to each other for selectively varying the position of the mark in response to an actuation of said linkage means.

5. The device according to claim 1 wherein yieldable means are interposed between each stop means and the respective actuating means, said yieldable means cushioning the impact as caused by the respective actuating means upon the respective stop means thereby impeding hunting of the front mark about its respective stop position.

6. The device according to claim 1 wherein each of said linkage means comprises a shaft substantially parallelto the table top and a link pivotal about said shaft, said links being drivingly coupled to said front mark to move the same along said closed path by pivoting said links, each of said actuating means coacting with the respective link to effect pivoting thereof.

7. The device according to claim 6 wherein each of said actuating means comprises a rotatable cam means, each of said cam means controlling the pivotal position of the respective link thereby controlling the parallel and vertical movements of the front mark independent of each other.

8. The device according to claim '7 wherein spring means bias said links into motion-transmitting engagement with the respective cam means.

9. The device according to claim 7 and comprising eccentric bearing means journaling the shaft of the second linkage means for displacing said shaft parallel to its axis and to the plane of the table top thereby correspondingly varying the stop positions of the front mark in response to an actuation of said second linkage means.

10. The device according to claim 9 wherein said second linkage means comprise a two-arm lever and a second bearing means pivotally supporting the link of said second linkage means, one arm of said lever coacting with the respective cam means for control of the angular position of the lever and the other arm being drivingly coupled to the shaft of the second linkage means for controlling the rotational position of said shaft by the angular position ofsaid lever.

11. The device according to claim 7 and comprising control means for selectively rendering'the second linkage means inactive, said control means including means for moving said link of the second linkage means out of coacting relationship with the respective cam means.

2 12. The device according to claim 1 and comprising a cover mark overlying the front mark in the sheet stopping position of the latter for preventing sheets to overrun the front mark in said position. 

1. A device for aligning sheets moving on a feed table of a sheet processing machine by initially retarding and finally arresting each sheet in a position of alignment by engagement of its leading edge with a front mark, said device comprising in combination: a feed table for successively moving thereupon the sheets to be aligned; a front mark; and means for moving said front mark along a closed path composed of two independent movements and including sequentially a sheetretarding part substantially parallel to and in the direction of the sheet movement for retarding of the sheet by engagement of the front mark with one side of the sheet, a sheet-arresting part substantially vertical to the sheet movement for moving the mark into the path of the sheet, a return part in opposition to the sheet movement, and a second substantially vertical part for moving the mark out Of the path of the sheet, said moving means including: first linkage means coupled with said front mark for moving the same substantially through said retarding part and said return part of the closed path, second linkage means coupled with said front mark for moving the same substantially through said vertical parts of the closed path; first actuating means coacting with said first linkage means to actuate the same for the purpose aforesaid; second actuating means coacting with said second linkage means to actuate the same for the purpose aforesaid; first stop means engaging the first linkage means for positively stopping the same at the end of the retarding movement of the front mark; and second stop means engaging the second linkage means for positively stopping the same at the end of the vertical movement of the front mark into the path of the sheet to be aligned.
 2. The device according to claim 1 wherein said first and second stop means are stationarily mounted.
 3. The device according to claim 2 wherein the stationary position of at least one of said stop means is adjustable.
 4. The device according to claim 1 wherein said front mark comprises two members joined adjustably relative to each other for selectively varying the position of the mark in response to an actuation of said linkage means.
 5. The device according to claim 1 wherein yieldable means are interposed between each stop means and the respective actuating means, said yieldable means cushioning the impact as caused by the respective actuating means upon the respective stop means thereby impeding hunting of the front mark about its respective stop position.
 6. The device according to claim 1 wherein each of said linkage means comprises a shaft substantially parallel to the table top and a link pivotal about said shaft, said links being drivingly coupled to said front mark to move the same along said closed path by pivoting said links, each of said actuating means coacting with the respective link to effect pivoting thereof.
 7. The device according to claim 6 wherein each of said actuating means comprises a rotatable cam means, each of said cam means controlling the pivotal position of the respective link thereby controlling the parallel and vertical movements of the front mark independent of each other.
 8. The device according to claim 7 wherein spring means bias said links into motion-transmitting engagement with the respective cam means.
 9. The device according to claim 7 and comprising eccentric bearing means journaling the shaft of the second linkage means for displacing said shaft parallel to its axis and to the plane of the table top thereby correspondingly varying the stop positions of the front mark in response to an actuation of said second linkage means.
 10. The device according to claim 9 wherein said second linkage means comprise a two-arm lever and a second bearing means pivotally supporting the link of said second linkage means, one arm of said lever coacting with the respective cam means for control of the angular position of the lever and the other arm being drivingly coupled to the shaft of the second linkage means for controlling the rotational position of said shaft by the angular position of said lever.
 11. The device according to claim 7 and comprising control means for selectively rendering the second linkage means inactive, said control means including means for moving said link of the second linkage means out of coacting relationship with the respective cam means. 2
 12. The device according to claim 1 and comprising a cover mark overlying the front mark in the sheet stopping position of the latter for preventing sheets to overrun the front mark in said position. 